A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-seven, article five,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to crimes
against public justice generally; obstructing the
administration of justice; intimidation, physical force or
threats against a person in an official proceeding;
retaliation for participation or discharge of duty in an
official proceeding.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-seven, article five, chapter sixty-one
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

If any person by threats, force, or otherwise, intimidate or
impede, or attempt to intimidate or impede, any judge, justice of
the peace, juror, witness, arbitrator, umpire, or an officer or
member of any court in the discharge of his duty as such, or by
any means obstruct or impede, or attempt to obstruct or impede,
the administration of justice in any court, he shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, unless otherwise
provided by law, he shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor
more than two hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in the county
jail not exceeding six months. (a) Any person who uses
intimidation, physical force or threats of such, or attempts to
do so, against any person, with the intent to:
(1) Impede or obstruct the administration of justice by any
judge, family law master, magistrate, juror, arbitrator, or
officer or member of any court in the discharge of that person's
duties as such in an official proceeding;
(2) Influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any
person in an official proceeding; or
(3) Cause or induce any person to (A) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official
proceeding; (B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object
with intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for
use in an official proceeding; (C) evade legal process summoning
that person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record,
document, or other object in an official proceeding; or (D) be
absent from an official proceeding to which such person has been
summoned by legal process is guilty of a felony, and upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a definite term of
imprisonment in the penitentiary which is not less than one year
nor more than ten years.
(b) Any person who engages in any conduct and thereby
causes bodily injury to another person or damages the tangible
property of another person, or threatens or attempts to do so,
with intent to retaliate against any person:
(1) For that person's discharge of duties as a judge,
magistrate, family law master juror, arbitrator, or officer or
member of any court in an official proceeding; or
(2) For the attendance of a witness or party at an official
proceeding, or any testimony given or any record, document, or
other object produced by a witness in an official proceeding is
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a definite term of imprisonment in the penitentiary
which is not less than one year nor more than ten years.
(c) For the purposes of this section, an official
proceeding need not be pending or about to be instituted at the
time of the offense and the testimony, or the record, document,
or other object need not be admissible in evidence or free of a
claim of privilege.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the term "official
proceeding" means a proceeding before a judge, magistrate, family
law master, court, or grand jury of the state of West Virginia.